Man charged in airplane incident

By
Erica Johnston

A New York man accused of trying to force open the cockpit and exit doors of a United Airlines flight on Saturday has been charged, authorities said Wednesday.

Gregory Thomas Burns, 33, of Sydney Center, N.Y., was arrested Tuesday at a hospital in Denver, where he had been taken for evaluation. He was removed from Flight 223 after passengers overpowered and subdued him as he allegedly tried to breach the cockpit and a front exit during a flight from Dulles International Airport, said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Denver.

Burns is charged with one count of interference with a flight crew, a felony that carries a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. He was held without bail by federal magistrate Michael Hegarty after a hearing yesterday Wednesday, pending a detention hearing in coming days, Dorschner said.